Departing Souls
by Insanity's Jewel
Summary: The Sense, a strange ability that forms in teenagers between the age of 12 and 17. A fearsome ability, and those who wield them are even fiercer. However, one man understood what they were like. And he wasn't going to let them be torn down by society. Welcome to Halloway's School for Troubled and Recovering Youth. SYOC CLOSED
1. Prologue

**Hello all! I'm here with a new story that is going to end up being an SYOC. I haven't written anything in quite a while, and then finally this idea came to mind. So, naturally, I tried to take what little motivation and do something with it. So, without further ado, here's whatever this is.**

To say Lucian Halloway was a patient man would be an understatement at one time. In his younger days, it seemed like he didn't have an ounce of anger in his mind. Yet, as time continued on, it seemed like his patience withered and was replaced by annoyance with most things in life. Maybe it had been his wife leaving him for another man for his ability to play the saxophone, those fucking jazz players and their smooth words. Or maybe it was the stress of running a school full of children that were. . . similar to him.

But recently, his exceedingly large amounts of annoyance and stress was coming from the student across from him.

"I'm just saying, Luce, he wanted this smoke." The greasy blonde haired boy arrogantly blew on his bloody knuckles. "If someone wants these Chris Brown hands, I've got to deliver."

Lucian clicks his tongue for a few seconds before finally responding, "It is Professor Halloway to you," He has to bite his own tongue to stop himself from saying a few choice words that would bring some negative feedback should the boy ever go home. "and I implore you to speak with an ounce of sense for once in your life, Flynn."

"If you get to call me by my first name, I think I should get to call you by yours too." Flynn shrugged as he looked away from Lucian's dark gaze. "and what I'm trying to say is that Jared was trying to start something, so I ran his fade." Crossing his arms, Flynn slouched in his chair as though he had genuinely defended his case. The blood on the boy's arms stood out against his pale skin like red paint on a canvas.

Popping one knuckle in anger, Lucian's mouth twitched. "That's a month of detention for starting a fight, and another two weeks for vulgarity. I will see you in my office after your classes starting Monday." He pulled a detention slip from the side of the desk and wrote down a few dates and times to officiate it.

"Oh come on nig-" Flynn tried to catch himself but he felt the stabbing pain of Lucian's stare.

Pulling a vial of ink remover from his desk, Lucian gritted his teeth as he said, "That's another month for racial slurs that, as I will be sure to add, _you have no right saying_." FInally letting out a sigh, he signed the slip and handed it to Flynn. "Now, get out of my sight."

As he left, Flynn made sure to knock around as much stuff as he could. Walking through the Headmaster's waiting room, he caught sight of the dark-skinned boy he had fought with, who flashed a smirk at him. "Like those broken ribs I gave you, Finnigan?" Flynn had to stop himself from taking another shot at the boy, remembering the dark green slip in his hand. Instead, he merely walked out of the room as he shook his body to attempt to get rid of the boiling anger. Jared, the boy in the waiting room, stood up at his departure and walked into Halloway's office.

"Mr. Penny, sit down, please." Lucian seemed to have a softer tone with Jared, after all, the boy never seemed to cause too much trouble. "So, as I asked Flynn, I will ask the same of you. What happened to cause this fight?"

Jared wiped the blood from his nose as he struggled to look his headmaster in the eye. This wasn't out of guilt, but rather because of the fact that while he had one black eye, the other kept tearing up. "Well, I tried to bring up the fact that Finnigan had no right saying half of the things he does say, and the other half just doesn't make sense. He didn't want to listen though," Both Lucian and Jared sighed in unison, knowing just how insufferable the thug-wannabe boy was. "So I had to keep pushing. I guess today he didn't want to hear it, and he punched me." Jared's hand found it's way to his swollen eye. "You aren't going to punish me for defending myself, are you?" Quick to sit straight and narrow his eyebrows, Jared was ready to defend his actions. However, Lucian waved his hands.

"No, I have reviewed the school tapes. I have listened to what was said, and I saw that Flynn was the one who attacked you. It would be wrong of me to punish you for stopping yourself from getting beaten up worse. I wanted to see if you would lie to me. Just get some rest, Jared. Dismissed." Lucian managed a somber smile as the boy stood up and walked out. As the door to his office closed, the headmaster twirled around in his chair to the windows.

After moving his wavy black locks out of his eyes, he looked out on the gardens of his school as the sun began to set. _His school_. Halloway's School for Troubled and Recovering Youths was his prime achievement. Not the 5 PhDs he'd amassed, not his ability to hit Mariah Carey's high note in Emotion. No, it was this school where he could offer children like him the ability to grow in an environment where they could learn to understand what was different about themselves. Drawing in a deep breath, Lucian stood up from his chair. He was fairly certain that his chair was some comfort goddess in an object form, because he every time he left it's cushioned embrace, he found himself wanting to be with it even more. _Good gods, Lucian. Fantasizing about a chair now?_ He broke himself from his thoughts and walked out of the office, locking it behind him.

"Ah, Luci, done for the day?" One of the school's science teachers, Julia Castil, stood in the waiting room with a glass of wine. She offered a glass to him, preparing to grab the bottle to fill his glass, but she was too slow. Lucian grabbed the bottle and bottomed out the drink. "Yikes, someone has had a bad day." The two left his waiting room and walked through the corridors of the enormous school. Coloured lights hung over head, complimenting the stained glass. Lucian always hated the drab fashion of most school. Clear windows, blaring white lights, they weren't his type. With his own school, he would do what he wanted to do with it. Dragging his thoughts away from his own impeccable design ideas, he gave his attention to Julia. As she finished the last of the wine in her glass, she turned her head to Lucian. "I tell ya, these kids are getting more dangerous every day. Not only that, but they are learning how to use their Sense with their increasingly dirty minds. You know, one kid tried to burn my dress to get a look at my-"

Lucian held up his hands to stop her. "Alright, I can get the picture. I'm. . . sorry that happened, Jules. I wish I could find a way to get these kids to drop the effect that hormones have on them." He gave a slight laugh as he searched Julia's olive toned face for any hint of a laugh or even a smile. Finally, her chartreuse eyes met Lucian's, and she gave off a slight giggle.

"You were always a strange one, Luci. That's why you were interesting." She gave him a punch in his arm as she stopped at a room. Pulling out a set of keys, she turned to the taller man. "This is where we part, sweet Halloway." She jokingly swooned, the two getting a laugh out of it. Lucian's dark eyes scanned for any signs of what he should do on her face.

 _Should I kiss her? Give her an awkward hug? Do some weird handshake?_

Taking a deep breath, Lucian finally opened his mouth. "Hey, Jules?"

She didn't say anything in reply as she fumbled with her keys to find the right one for her door, only giving a slight, "Hmm?"

"Would you. . . would you want to grab dinner some time?" Lucian forced a smile as he tried to bury the increasingly anxious thoughts rising in his mind.

Finally getting her door open, Julie moved her brown curls from her face to look at Lucian. "Sure, I'd love to. Just don't pick somewhere disgusting, please." She gives him a smile as she stepped into her room. "Night, Luci. Don't stay up too late."

Lucian nodded as his cheeks exploded with heat. _She said yes. She actually said yes._ Pumping his fist into the air, Lucian was glad that all of the students were in their rooms, otherwise he would be in a rather embarrassing situation. Stepping into the elevator, Lucian used a special key to unlock the basement floor button. As the elevator descended, he could feel time become thick, and the elevator struggle to keep going and not become frozen in it's place. As the rumbling lift came to a stop, it took every bit of it's energy to open the doors to reveal a rather strange room.

The room was painted with bright colours, but the murals depicted in it were disturbing. Plants grew in pots around the rooms, and assorted animals ran after each other. However, there was an odd lack of objects. Other than the plants, there was no real furniture, except for a single bed in the center of the room. Not propped against a wall like most would prefer to do, no, Lucian always found it odd that the bed was kept directly in the center of the room.

"How many times must I tell you to stay away unless invited?" A lulling voice snapped at the Headmaster, before a large murky green beam of energy exploded towards Lucian. Holding his left hand towards the beam, his black hair whipped backwards as the force of the beam continued, but never truly harmed him.

"I have told you before that you are not to use your Sense on me, Xerathia." Lucian spoke in an almost bored tone as the beam seemed to die down. From where the blast had started, a being materialized in front of him.

His feet never touched the ground as he silently floated towards the bed in his room. "And _I_ have told you to address me as Aincrad."

"Yeah, I'm not going to do that. I was gracious enough to shorten your name to Xera." Lucian looked the boy up and down. Every time he saw Xera, he was always taken aback. The boy was what he remembered as being handsome in the facial area. A sharp face with defined features. But he was so. . . skeletal. Although it couldn't be seen through his formal suits and that strange kimono he always wore. Perhaps the most strange part of his appearance was his hair. It reached his heels easily, and the outside of his hair was pale white in colour. Before he could finish his analysis of how the boy looked, he noticed the inside of Xera's hair turn a lotus pink colour.

A portal appeared to his left with a large serpentine creature erupting towards Lucian from it. However, just as he had done with the beam of energy, he held both hands towards the creature. Like a kid eating a piece of spaghetti, the creature was absorbed into Lucian's body. "I'll get to you one day, Xera. I just wish you would let me in." As he turned, Lucian was frozen in time. Floating towards him, Xera examined the man who sought to be some sort of father figure to him.

"One day, I will." Embracing the man in a hug that he couldn't reciprocate, Xera pulled himself away and floated back to his bed as he released his hold on time. "Please leave, Lucian Halloway."

Lucian stepped inside the elevator as he took one last look at Xerathia for the night. What a complicated child. . .

 _You once were the same way, you know? Maybe if you stopped pretending to be frozen, you could get through to him._

He was overthinking again. He just needed to go to sleep. As he looked at his abalone watch, he noticed that far too much time had passed while he was down there. It was already 2:30 a.m. Nothing good ever happens after 2 in the morning.

* * *

 **So, some information that is needed. But first off, reviews are greatly appreciated. Anyways, on to a few select bits of information.**

 **First off, the school. Halloway's School for Troubled and Recovering Youths is a school made by Lucian Halloway, being in a remote section of Louisiana, United States. The school uses the cover of mental illnesses or disorders, addictions, and criminal records to have these specific kids. Using a specially coded DNA reader, invitations to the school are only sent to teenagers with the Sense.**

 **The Sense is a special ability that forms in select people. A Sense can take a variety of different forms, from Super-Strength to Reality Manipulation. A Sense causes heightened emotions especially for teenagers, and can even cause the formation of illnesses or disorders. Sometimes impulse control can be dulled, which can lead to multiple problems if not controlled, including addictions, affairs, etc. It is unknown what causes a Sense to form, but it has been noted to appear from the ages of 12 to 17. After you have passed 17, there is next to no chance of a Sense forming.  
**

 **Those with Senses are not truly known about to the public, and most governments would rather keep it that way, merely playing them off as crazy, delusional, addicts, or delinquents.**

 **Now for the rules and the form, which I will put on my profile as well.**

 **1) No Mary or Gary Sues. Don't make them perfect. Just don't. It's not fun for me, it's not fun for others, and in the end, it won't be fun for you.**

 **2) Please no resubmits. Make something new, something original. After all, new characters are always fun to see.**

 **3) You can not give your character a world ending, universe ending, multiverse ending, etc. Sense. Just can't.**

 **4) One Sense. Nothing changes this. Your character can have only one Sense. They can not have multiple personalities and each have their own Sense. One and that's _it._ Same goes for their Enhancers.**

 **5) Maximum of two characters per sender**

 **6) Your deadline is January 30, 2019 at 12:01 P.M. EST.**

 **Halloway's School For Troubled and Recovering Youth Application**

 **BASIC**

Name: (Pretty Basic Stuff here)

Nickname/Alias: (Again, basic stuff. At least have one nickname here, everyone has something they wish they were called. I wish I could just be called Johnny all the time, my friend Treshawn goes purely by Tre. He won't even respond to Treshawn anymore.)

Age:(12-17. They could have had their Sense since they were 12, or they could have just gotten it, and anywhere in between there works. They just can not have their Sense before the age of 12, or after the age of 17)

Sex:(This is referring to physical gender. Male, Female, Intersex)

Gender Identity:(This is referring to what you identify. Cis-Male, Cis-Female, Trans-Male, Trans-Female, etc.)

Nationality: (They can be from anywhere you want, just, you know, as long as it is on Earth. I'm going to let in as many as 2 people per nationality.)

Ethnicity: (Trust me, it is a common mistake. Ethnicity is not going to always be the same as Nationality. If you are American, you do not say you are American as an ethnicity.)

Religion: (Hit me with what you've got.)

Sexuality: (Again, anything works)

"Condition": (This could be a mental disorder, a mental illness, an addiction that is currently ongoing or they are recovering from, criminal activity, but it has to be something that is caused by their Sense and would qualify them to have a cover to be in Halloway's School.)

 **APPEARANCE**

Height & Weight: (Please put height in feet'inches" format and weight in pounds. Please make sure they match each other. You can not be 6'5" and 95 lbs. You would be purely a skeleton.)

Hair Colour: (Go as crazy or as normal as you want. Want them to have only a single streak of hair that is the colour of a rainbow, and then have literally no other hair? Go right ahead. I want to see what crazy things I can get.)

Hair Length & Style: (How long is their hair? Do they keep it up in a bun at all times? Do they keep it styled in some special way? I'm not going to accept replications of hair style here, so try to make it unique.)

Eye Colour:( Is their entire eye, sclera and all, black? Is their pupil a special shape? Are their irises different colours? Tell me here!)

Voice: (How do they talk? What do they sound like? Are they like Flynn and say things they shouldn't? Are they like Lucian and sometimes have to stop and think of what they want to say? Just their mannerisms, accents, those sort of things here.)

Skin tone: (I mean, just as long as you keep it to human skin tones. Are they as dark as the endless void? Are they as white as snow?)

Body Type:( Are they muscular? Are they skeletal? Are they busty? Pretty simple stuff here, just give me a description of their body here. If you are submitting a female and wish to, you can include a cup size here as well)

Markings: (This is anything from scars to birthmarks to tattoos. Just marks that are lasting on their body essentially.)

Signature Outfit: (What is their normal outfit? Please don't give me a specific set of clothes, but rather, a general description of the types of clothes they wear. They can be as cool or as bland as you want. Just...make it at least partially school appropriate. Just a little at least, please. I'm begging here.)

Secondary Outfits: ( You can put winter clothes, swimwear, sleepwear, and other various clothes here as you see fit.)

Accessories: (Bracelets, necklaces, rings, that sort of thing.)

 **PERSONAL**

Backstory: ( At least 200 words here. Please stay unique here, and please, everyone, don't try to make your character the Sasuke of this story. I don't want a bunch of edgelords running around cutting their own existence out because of their own edginess.)

Family: (This could be blood related or just someone they consider close enough to be family. Include their name, age, relation, some stuff about their personality and appearance, you know, that sort of thing.)

Personality: (At least 300 words here. I want it detailed, I want it beautiful, I want it unique. Make me pikachu gasp jpeg at it.)

Alignment: (Please be sure of this. And trust me, I love Chaotic Neutrals with my entire soul, but not too many of them, please.)

Likes: (Basic Stuff)

Dislikes: (Basic Stuff)

Habits:(These can be bad, they can be weird, they can be funny, but come on, at least give them one. Everyone has at least one habit. One of mine is that I move and do my actions to the tune and rhythm of whatever music I am listening to)

Fears: (Basic Stuff, at least one here, everyone is scared of something. I'm scared of the ocean. Fuck the ocean. Fuck everything about that slippery bastard.)

Secrets: (Again, at least one. We all have secrets. _All of us_.)

Quotes: (You know, something to give me a little bit of insight into your character. At least 5 quotes.)

 **COMBAT**

Fighting Style: (Are they the analytical type? Do they throw caution to the wind and just let themselves free? Pretty basic stuff, how do they fight, what are the weaknesses of it, the works.)

Sense: (Ah, what I am really looking forwards to seeing. I have already given you the rundown on Senses earlier, but quick refresher. A Sense is an ability that forms in those between the ages of 12-17. It can be things like super strength, ferrokinesis, and more. It just can't be world/universe/multiverse/etc. ending. Be sure to include what it can do, it's weaknesses, it's limits, that sort of thing)

Enhancer: (Enhancers are objects that Halloway's School specially makes for each student after studying their Sense and determining what works best. Enhancers are normally objects that take the form of a weapon. Enhancers must be summoned by saying their command word and name, after which they will materialize in front of the summoner. Here I want you to put the form of their Enhancer, their name, and their Summoning Phrase. )

Strengths: (Make these equal to or less than weaknesses.)

Weaknesses: (Make these equal to or greater than strengths.)

 **STATISTICS**

 **(You have 65 points here to distribute. The scale is on 0 to 10. For reference, I will not specify each point, but rather, three key points. 0 is no skill. You have no chance of being good in it. You are useless here. 5 is average skill. You're the average Joe here. Not terrible, not amazing. 10 is perfect skill. You could do this with your brain shut off, your eyes blindfolded, and a world hurling towards you.)**

Strength: (Your muscle mass, how much you can lift, how heavy a punch you can deliver, this score is going to represent your character's physical force they can exert on tasks.)

Speed: (How fast you can go, how quick you are to react, this score is going to represent your character's overall movement speed and how fast they can be at tasks.)

Flexibility: (How much you can bend yourself in what is normally very uncomfortable positions, how long you can stay in that position, this score is going to represent your character's agility[Not the same as speed. This is referring to how easily your character can make the movements])

Dexterity:(How much you can do with your hands, how many things you can handle at once with your hands, this score is going to represent your character's ability to do tasks regarding their hands, including dual wielding.)

Intelligence: (How quick you are at processing information, how easily you can recall information, how high your mental capacity is, this score is going to determine your overall IQ and ability to not only recall but also use and retain information.)

Endurance: (How much you can take without complaining, how many hits it takes to take you down, this score is going to represent your character's ability to take hits without succumbing.)

Awareness: (How much you can smell, how much you can see, how much you can hear, this score is going to represent your character's ability to utilize their five senses to their maximum potential.)

Recovery: (How fast you get back up after being beaten down, how fast you can heal up from a wound, this score is going to represent your character's speed at which they recover from their injuries.)

Sense Mastery: (How well you know to use your Sense, how much energy it takes for you to use your Sense, this score is going to represent your character's knowledge of their Sense and it's capabilities as well as how much energy it takes to use it. If they just got their Sense, they can not have a 10 on this.)

Stamina: (How long you can run, how long you can hold an attacker at bay, this score is going to represent your character's ability to keep up a task for extended periods of time.)

Charisma: (How easily you can seduce someone, how easily you can persuade someone to see things your way, this score is going to represent your character's ability to seduce, persuade, and influence others.)

Sanity: (How long you can stay calm under intense amounts of pressure, how long they stay logical and rational in stressful situations, this score is going to represent your character's ability to stay calm, rational, logical and more under intense amounts of pressure.)

Teamwork: (How many people they can work with at one time, how easily they can work with other people, this score is going to represent your character's ability to work with multiple people and properly synchronize with them on tasks.)

 **MISC.**

Thoughts on Lucian Halloway:

Thoughts on Halloway's School for Troubled and Recovering Youth:

Thoughts on Xerathia: (If you are having trouble here, perhaps the second chapter can help you get a better feel of him)

Thoughts on themselves:

Thoughts on teachers:

Thoughts on The Sense:

Extra:( Anything I forgot, put it here.)


	2. A Tormented Spirit

**Now, I figured that a proper way to introduce you to my personal main for the story was to make a small little prologue for him so you all know a little bit about him and have plenty of questions that you can wonder on. So, here's to Xerathia. I hope you all enjoy this little bit, and I look forward to seeing what kinds of characters you all can come up with.**

The basement always had been a quaint place, at least, that's what Xerathia told himself. Time stood still around him as he laid in his bed. A chameleon was frozen in place on a nearby plant, it's tongue stretched towards a silkworm. He always tried to extend the time for him to attempt to fall asleep. It allowed him think. Think about the world, think about himself, think about the annoying classmates he had to deal with, if there was one thing he would always be able to do, it was think. It's not like he would run out of time.

 _Sleep sleep sleep. Just close your eyes._

No matter how much time he had though, sleep always took the longest to come to him. Clenching his eyes, he reached his hand outwards to the small desk beside his bed. Feeling for the small noise machine he kept, he turned the dials, bringing the machine out of it's frozen state. _Crickets. Always crickets. No matter what I change it to, it's still crickets!_ He crushed the object in his hand, opening his hand to see the machine broken in pieces beside his bed. Letting out a sigh, he waved his hand backwards as the machine returned to its previous state. After turning it off, he let time go. Perhaps the sound of those around him would be enough to put him to sleep.

As his muscles relaxed, Xera finally felt the comfort of sleep embrace him.

" _Xe-Xe? You coming?" A soft hand that looked tiny in his dragged him through the gardens. Those lovely gardens. Roses as crimson as blood, orchids as beautiful as a model. She showed them all to him._

 _Despite the look of longing in his eyes, Xera only responded coldly as they stopped under the Rainbow Eucalyptus tree that towered over the school. . "You aren't here. You're dead. You're worse than dead."_

" _I'm right here, aren't I?" She let out a loud laugh._ _ **Her laugh**_ _. "See, I can touch you," She put her hands on his, despite his hands dwarfing hers. "and you can touch me." Xera felt the emotion well up within him, but he stopped himself. This was a dream. His mind reminding him of what could have been._

 _Caressing the girl's palm, he stared her down. He got to see those beautiful red eyes again, that crooked smile. It was just like her. "Rose, why did you do it?"_

" _Why did I do what?" Her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. Was this a vision of the past, or could it have been a vision of what the future could have been like?_

 _Taking his hands away from Rose's, he tore his gaze from her face. "Why didn't you leave when I told you to? You could've been safe, you could've been here!" He threw his hands up around his face in annoyance, shaking them back and forth as he thought about his words. "We could have been happy, why didn't you just listen to me?"_

" _Because you were in pain. And if there was something I was always there for, it was making you feel better." She planted a kiss on his hallowed cheek. "Although. . ." Suddenly, the overall aura of the area changed. Plants began wilting, the sky turned dark, and the grass started to die. "Did you ever consider that it might have been your fault?" Xera's eyes were drawn to Rose, however, her appearance sent a pain through his body. Portions of her began to disintegrate into murky green and black energy._

 _Xerathia shut his eyes, cradling his head in his arms as he paced back and forth. "No. No._ _ **No.**_ " _He pointed a finger at Rose. "I tried to stop it for as long as possible!" She took a step towards him. "I warned you over and over again, you shouldn't have ever gotten close to me!" Another step. "You weren't supposed to be anywhere near there anyways!" His hand began to phase through her as she stepped even closer. The disintegration had begun reaching the sides of her face. "I spend every day regretting what I did to you. . ." As Rose had reached his torso, he was greeted with a fully restored Rose._

" _I'm not going anywhere, Xe-Xe. Never." She buried her face in his chest as his heartbeat finally slowed down._

 _Taking a deep breath, he looked down at her. "Really?" He waited for a response. One minute. Two. Darkness began to set in around him, the world disappearing around him. The embrace that clung to him slowly faded away, until he was alone in the darkness. Again._

" _ **Xe-Xe, this isn't a joke."**_

" _ **Xerathia, please stop playing around."**_

" _ **What is wrong?! Are you hurt somewhere?!"**_

" _ **Rose, get out of here right now."**_

" _ **I won't leave you!"**_

Xerathia jolted up in a cold sweat, his pure white hair falling away from his clothes. The three rings of jewels above his head quickly made work of the sweat on his body, absorbing the fluids and draining them onto plants before taking their place back above his head like a set of crowns. Tossing aside the blanket that smothered him, Xera stood up and began to stretch out his back.

As he draped his kimono over his shoulders, he clapped his hands together, bringing time to a stop. Looking to the floor, a lotus pink portal slowly formed and crackled with similar pink energy around it's edges. Cautiously climbing in, Xerathia was greeted with a feeling that he always took immense feeling in. At first, it started as though he was falling. Weightlessly falling, his hair whipping upwards, and his adrenaline beginning to pump. Then the feeling changed. He was rising, like an angel to the heavens. All around him was nothingness, just black space with specks of colour here and there, until suddenly he found himself in a large cylindrical vessel.

 **Containment Unit: Aincrad**

 **Status:Inactive**

 **Signs:Vital, 5% Deterioration**

"Thanks, Camille." As light flooded the vessel, Xera sat down on the cold floor as he pushed his knees to his chest. He still had time before the school day started, at least, he hoped he did. He opened a small portal in front of him, viewing the rotations of the planets around the sun, and determining a time by Earth's location.

His hand snaked it's way to his kimono's pocket, and his fingers grabbed hold of a locket. Pulling it out, he clicked the top of black heart, revealing a picture of Xerathia and Rose. She was holding a bouquet of roses and was cradled in Xera's arms. Feeling tears beginning to crawl their way down his face, he closed the locket out of fear of ruining the picture. Putting the picture back into his pocket, he stood up. "Camille, how much time before first period?"

 **2 hours, 27 minutes,and 43 seconds, Sir.**

"I've got enough time then." As he snapped his fingers, a folder materialized within Xerathia's hand. Opening it up, his interest suddenly piqued. "Aka Manah Zoroan?" He looked over a few extra bits of information. "Why have you been holding back this mission from us, Halloway?" Donning a smirk, Xera disappeared through a new portal.

 **Powering off.**

 **See you at the next Revival, Aincrad.**


	3. Foundations of Ruin

**So, this will be the last prologue chapter that I make before the deadline. It is a chapter that should give quite a bit of information on a number of things, as well as provide a good amount of history to the world that this story is set in. If you are left with questions, that is good, because that's what I aim to do. I want to leave you all with as many questions as possible, that way it is even more satisfying when they get answered. Like a puzzle slowly coming together. You've just always got to be on the lookout for the next piece that fits.**

 **Foundations of Ruin**

 _ **One Week Ago**_

It was the third time a series of knocks hit Lucian's door. "Luci, get up. I know you don't want to be awake, neither do I. But we have jobs to deal with." Julia's soft voice was muffled by the thick cherry wood door.

"I don't want to be alive," Lucian said, finally peeling his face from his pillow. "and I don't get paid for what I do. You do." He may not have been able to see through walls, but he could feel Julia's smile widening on her face.

Letting out a deep sigh, Julia slowly stepped back from the door. "I'll just tell the students that you're going to show up late. If you aren't out of bed and in your office by the end of my first class, I will find you and drag you to your office in your pajamas."

"Thank you, Jules, I appreciate you too." Lucian cringed at his choice of words as he heard her platform heels click away. _I mean, saying, 'I love you' would be weird, wouldn't it? Yeah, good choice, Lucian. A-plus._ As he shook his head to get his wavy black hair out from underneath his head, he smothered himself with his pillow yet again. "Fuck, I thought this got easier eventually." There wasn't anybody else in the room with him, he just had resorted to venting to himself.

Maybe he should actually start talking to someone about his problems. . . _Why would I ever do that to myself?_

His thoughts started to come back to the time he tried to talk with the school counselor about problems he had. As he began recalling the experience, shivers went up his spine.

* * *

 _ **2 years ago**_

 _All eyes were on him. All of the students waiting for the counselor, they were just staring him down. Sweet lord, the Sense may heighten emotions, but how bad is it hitting these kids?_

 _He couldn't talk much though. The Sense hit him like a stop sign in a tornado._

" _Hey, how are you?" Lucian could barely muster out a small greeting as he walked past the watching eyes, stopping out the counselor's door. Nico Dubois, an interesting man that Lucian had met while in a study abroad program in France. When he had began choosing the staff, Nico immediately came to Lucian's mind for the position of counselor. The man has an eccentric way of defusing tension, stress, and almost anything really negative._

' _Isn't that Professor Halloway?'_

' _He looks awful. . . in like a kind of hot way though.'_

' _Anna, that's weird. Don't be weird, please, not right now.'_

' _Geoffrie, I've seen your late night posts about wishing Mr. Godfrey would raw you.'_

' _Hey, is no one going to wonder why he's here? Did one of you actually try something on one of the teachers?'_

 _The thoughts of the students finally came to a stop as Lucian went to grab the doorknob, only for the door to fling open to reveal Lucian's very bane of his existence. "Oh. Flynn, good to see you around."_

" _Damn, Hallway, you look like shit." Flynn smacked the taller man on his shoulder as he walked by, acting as if nothing he just said had any consequences. However, Lucian had no time for it. Stepping into the office, he made sure to close and tightly lock the door behind him._

 _Forgetting about where he was, Lucian jumped when he heard that familiar french accent. "Monsieur Lucian, you are looking worried. No one can hear you in here. You are safe." Jeez, was he always this suspicious? Lucian felt as though he was the ignorant cheerleader in a bad horror movie, walking into his own death. Nonetheless, he sat down in that mystical chair he had heard so much about from listening to Julia. He was immediately absorbed into the soft cushions, letting them take him to places he had never seen. "There we go. Now, what seems to be the issue?"_

" _I don't know, Nico. I just. . ." Lucian stopped as he tried to think. "I always do exactly what I'm doing right now. I don't talk about anything to anyone, I internalize all of my problems, and I can't let myself just be okay with what I say."_ _ **Woah. What the fuck was that. I don't ever do that.**_

 _Nico let out a slight laugh as he stood up, walking behind Lucian's chair. "I can see that it's already taken effect on you then. Very good, now we can get right to work."_ _ **Damn.**_ _Lucian finally remembered just what Nico did. His Sense allowed him to manipulate the very neurology and psychology of people. He could influence emotions, make them say whatever he wanted, the man was an absolute mad lad. "So, let's see where the root of all of this most likely started." Placing both hands around the back of Lucian's neck, suddenly a burst of visions came to life in the office. His memories, no doubt. With a wave of Nico's hand, the visions all organized. "It would have to have started at times of true emotional betrayal. . . pain. . ." Slowly flipping through the memories, Lucian couldn't help but start to go through a bit of an existential crisis. This was his life. His entire life, right in front of him._

" _You can go on and blur past this part." Lucian became flustered at the memories coming up. "College dorms were lonely at night, and it wasn't like anyone wanted to get friendly with a teenager." Nico let out a slight chuckle as he followed instructions and quickly went through that section of memories._

" _Ah, here we go. This was the most twisted memory of all." Nico stepped back as the memory played like a video. It showed a young Lucian standing in front of a podium, a large crowd in front of him. Flashes of cameras blinded the young man, and microphones were repeatedly shoved in his face. As he talked, there was a silence over the crowd, the exception being one lone boy, no older than Lucian had been that day. He broke through the crowd like a brick through Stonewall. As he screamed horrible truths at Lucian, the aura of the crowd changed._

 _Lucian felt his insides turn cold. "We're done here. Thank you for your help, but I can't do this." Standing up from that deceptively comfortable chair, Lucian made his way out of the office, ignoring the pleads of Nico._

 _In the office, one of the teenagers was singing while the other did some ridiculous dance._

" _Loose, foot loose, put on your fuckin' foot loose. Feet, foot feet, dance on your fucking feet." The dancing child did some odd wiggle, still completely oblivious to the headmaster standing behind him._

" _Yeah, I can definitely vibe to this." It wasn't until they bumped into Lucian that they finally came to a stop._

* * *

Pulling himself away from his memories, Lucian shuddered as he recalled how cold Nico's hands were. _Does he stick them in freezers? Is he a lizard-person? I would know about that kind of stuff, right?_ He still held a small bit of a grudge towards Nico for making him relive that experience. That hellish day. . .

"Lucian Alexandros Halloway, if you don't get out of your room right now, I will follow through with my previous threat." Julia's menacing voice came through loud and clear this time, and it was definitely enough to get the shaggy man out of his bed. _I mean, it's not like she would actually beat our ass. . . no, she would._

He managed to find his way to the door in the dark, but to say he found it would be an overstatement. It was more like he threw his body around against where he could remember the noise coming from, finally getting to the door after three other failed attempts, and a now (most likely) broken lamp. "Yeah, yeah, I'm getting up now, Jules. Thanks, get to class." He felt for the light switch on the wall near his door, adjusting quickly to the dull red light.

"Alright, Lucian, let's show the world our stuff." He flung open his wardrobe doors to reveal a number of different suits. _Hm..am I feeling a bit existential today, or do I want to have the same feeling as a racoon digging in the garbage at 2 in the morning?_ Flipping between the two suits, he decided on the purple, white, and black colour set suit. _Racoon it is._

After donning his, in his opinion, stylish three piece suit, he made no real effort to style his hair. He caught a view of the wavy mane in his mirror, but he dismissed it. "They'll think it's part of the look." Stepping out into the colourful halls, he found himself caught in the traffic of transitioning classes. "Good morning, students. I understand you have somewhere to go, but I am more important, so please let me through." Most students had already cleared away from the headmaster, but those who hadn't quickly moved out of his path. As he came close to his office and waiting lobby, he stopped at a particular board on the wall.

The Hunt Wall, or the missions as the kids decided to call them. He would post up documents of dangerous Sense users that were too far gone, and had given into their powers and emotions, and the students would take on the cases of them, tracking them down and. . . neutralizing them. As long as they got permission from him, that is. It was a disturbing thing, but from what damage had happened in the past by those who became too absorbed by their Sense, they had to be taken down before they could further cause damage to society and to themselves. For a moment, he remembered one specific girl that he almost had to place on the wall. He was glad that he had managed to get through to her before she was too badly rooted in the Sense.

* * *

 _ **10 years ago**_

" _Luci, do you really think this is such a good idea?" Julia looked at the colourful board on the wall, already filled with documents pinned to it. "You know, this is a school after all. We aren't making soldiers."_

 _Lucian waved his fingers in front of him. "You're right, we aren't making soldiers. Soldiers follow orders, their form is copied time and time again, and a good amount of them are just copies of each other. But these kids? Each one of them has something unique to them. Sure, some may share similar Senses, but they all use it differently. That's where we come in. We teach them how to embrace their different ways to use their Sense, and let them choose their targets." He stopped to pick a document from the board. "Take Jimmy Valenci, for example. He's been unleashing chaos in Roussillon this past week. Now, I bet you he is expecting some adult with guns to come for him, or some normal person in general to try to stop him. He would not be expecting one of our students to pop up and take him out."_

 _Julia clicked her tongue as she looked over the documents. "Since it's so simple, why don't you do it all yourself? Why don't we teachers do it? Why do we have to throw kids at them?" She knew the answer already, but she wanted to hear it from him. He wanted to hear the list of reasons he had. He always had them, and if he didn't come through this time, she wouldn't be able to walk away from this conversation without beating some sense into the man._

" _Because there aren't enough of us, Jules. You know how difficult it can be to resist the temptations of the Sense, and there are so many that give into it day by day." He clicked his heels on the ground, feeling adrenaline pumping through his body. "Julia, we would make sure they were completely safe. We would make sure they have training, making sure to add in sparring and training lessons in Sense Control classes, we would have them run the target they are choosing by me, and I would decide if they are ready. But most importantly, we wouldn't let them go alone. We would send them in duos or trios, with the other people hiding away, just in case they needed to jump in." Lucian was basically bouncing his entire body at this point, looking at Julia for any form of an answer._

 _She was, however, still processing all of the information that had just been dropped on her like an anvil in an old cartoon. "Lucian, what if you think wrong? What if you send a student out and they die? What happens then? How would the parents react? How would the government act?" She wasn't going to have Lucian's erratic thoughts ruin everything he built._

" _We'd give them a quick portal out. If they ever feel that things are going sideways, they just click it, and they'd be portaled back. I promise you, I am not going to send them into a death trap unprepared." Lucian felt the adrenaline rush from his own genius slowly begin to settle down. "I won't make the wrong decision. This is me we're talking about, after all." He offered a sorrowful smile._

" _That's what worries me!" Julia jumped up, turning to Lucian with her arms crossed. "You are so sheltered sometimes, what happens when a child comes up to you on one of those days, and you send them on the mission just because you want them to go away?"_

" _Because I am not going to ruin their lives like mine was!" Lucian responded in an equally upset tone, even though he felt tears gathering in his eyes. He was not ashamed of the fact that he cried often, but when he argued with friends, he immediately opened the waterworks. "I will never let one of these kids die while they are here! Not here or while hunting down someone! You saw that Pioro boy! His Sense was trying to let itself out because he wouldn't use it enough! Look what happened!" Lucian's voice began to crack as he recalled the recent incident in Colorado. "He didn't use his Sense enough, and he became a living bomb. His Sense turned into pure energy, and he died. You want to know how many died with him? 1368 people have been found so far. ."_

 _Julia remembered seeing the news. Felincio Pioro. He had been a boy who refused to use his Sense, and because of his lack of using it, it turned him into a living bomb. The energy overtook his entire body, and before the government was able to remove him as a threat, he exploded in a blast that killed hundreds of people. "But the kids do use their Sense here, Luci."_

 _"Yes, they use their Sense here. But do they use it enough?" Luci raised his eyebrows. "This would get rid of any excess energy in their body that is built up by their Sense. That way, we don't have hundreds of living atom bombs walking around." He took a deep breath, thinking over the situation. "I would never make children into soldiers just because it is convenient. I'm keeping them alive and safe, and I'm keeping innocents alive."_

 _Julia slowly resolved her doubts. She knew the subject of a student that he had failed to keep safe was always going to be a sore topic for him, but she had to make sure that he wasn't getting too ahead of himself. "Alright, Luci. I believe in you, and I believe in this. . . what do you call it?"_

" _Hunt Wall, since they'll be technically be hunting the targets. Except they know everything about them and where to find them. So, hunting on easy mode."_

" _Right. . . Well, no matter the stupid names, I believe in it." Julia took her seat beside Lucian. "So, that thought you had yesterday night, it wouldn't happen to have anything to do with this, would it?"_

 _Lucian's eyes seemed to scan the area around him, almost as if he expected the answers to pop up in the room. "Yes. After all, not all of these kids have something that can help them to fight. Some of them just can't fight at all. Those things would help them, you know, make them stronger in some way. Channel their Sense through it, and it will be better for them."_

" _So, what stupid name do you plan to call these?"_

" _Enhancers."_

" _Huh, for once, you came up with a good name for something."_

* * *

As he smiled at the warm memories, Lucian finished the last stretch to his office. However, as he remembered the Enhancers, he figured that he would go check on the development of any new ones. Putting his 'Away' sign on his door, he started his voyage down the vibrant halls yet again. Luckily, the students had begun to thin out as they got to class. Soon, Lucian was the only one walking the halls, like a lost spirit trying to find the next life.

Lucian finally came to a dark bloodwood door, which he had to take a key from his key-ring to open. "Jawahra, are you in here?" He was greeted by the sound of assorted things falling over as someone tried to make their way to him. Literally jumping from around the corner, a rather youthful girl stood in front of him. With a blood red smirk plastered on her face, and a white lab coat that complimented her olive skin, Jawahra Sanie could easily be mistaken for student. However, Lucian knew that the Head Enhancer Designer had so much more to her than her appearance.

"You need something, boss?" Lucian always cringed at that name she called him. He had insisted multiple times to just call him Lucian, but she insisted on addressing him the same way a mafia member addressed their godfather. "Did you finally come to get me to make an Enhancer for you?!" Without waiting for a response, Jawahra had already run off. As he waited for her return, Lucian slowly wandered into the lab. Technology was at an all time peak here, mainly because of the amazing minds he had hired for this department. They might not have all had a Sense regarding their intelligence, but they all had something that made their ability to make the Enhancers unique to them. It was a secret guarded within the Enhancer department. Even he didn't know how they were made. Finally, Jawahra came running back to him with bundles of concept designs in her arms. "So, this is only a few of the designs I've made for your Enhancer."

Lucian waved his hands towards her. "No need, Jawahra. I promise you, I still don't need an Enhancer. I was just coming to look and see any Enhancers being made, check up on progress, that sort of thing."

"I've told you before, boss, I can't tell you that. If you're ever compromised, I can't have someone finding out our secrets." Jawahra's smile widened, pearly white teeth gleaming under one of, quite possibly, the only white lights in the whole school. "But, I can take you around the lab and just let you see how everything is coming along." Again, she did not wait for a response before taking off. Lucian let out a deep sigh as he followed behind the cheerful girl. An atom bomb could go off around her, and Jawahra would still be as happy as a child who was just told they could get whatever they wanted from the store. "I think you'll be happy to hear that Camille is still functioning properly. She had an odd moment where she showed up last night, but she was probably just checking herself. Overall, no bugs this month."

Lucian nodded at her statement. "Good, we have to make sure that she is ready in case anything happens." He stopped as he looked at the wall of technology that, frankly, terrified him. If he wanted to, he could understand it. But technology was always so. . . annoying. Always changing. _Buy the new Dingle 98BT for your entire life savings, actually, just sell your soul for it._ However, he knew that Jawahra needed the absolute best for what she did. Whatever it was she did. "Any new finished Enhancers for any of the students?"

"Yes! I knew you would find a way for me to freak out!" Grabbing Lucian's hand and literally dragging him along, she took him through a series of turns that seemed much longer than they should have. "So, recently, we began to experiment with the material for Enhancers. Before we were using light wave weaving to create the Enhancers, with dark matter coding mixed with element nano-cubes. But we figured out that, while that is fast, we could manage to make it faster." _Didn't she just say that she couldn't tell me this stuff? Does she know what she's doing?_ Jawahra turned to a computer, bringing up a holographic model of these strange spherical models. "So, we changed the shape of the cubes to orbs. As cubes, there was little move for the shape to change and move as it was transferring, but as orbs, they are able to move so much easier, and they will settle right back in place when they are done." Lucian only nodded. _What the **fuck** did she just say? I mean, she's happy, and that's what matters._

"So, in short, they travel faster now?" Lucian looked over the model some more, finding some joy in poking it and causing a reaction. Jawahra nodded as her attention was drawn to her ringing phone.

She put the device to her ear, and started to speak in Arabic. Lucian always wanted to ask her to teach her how to speak her native tongue, but he knew that he wouldn't have the time. Taking the phone away from her ear, she came back with a disappointed look. "Sorry, boss, but you've got to go. I've got to get to work on a new design."

After leading Lucian out, the two parted ways at the door. Oddly enough, as soon as he stepped out of the lab, he forgot just about every thing that Jawahra had just told him about Enhancer design. _It's probably my own mind trying to comprehend it's own stupidity, and just giving up._ Taking his leave, Lucian made his way to his office.

As he looked out on the gardens of his office, he couldn't help but feel a bit nostalgic. Where the roses were an impenetrable mass, there had once been a dead body buried in the earth. Where the butterflies fluttered around crinums, there was originally uninhabitable clay. Yet he put in the work to fix what had originally been useless and made it into something beautiful. Something safe, where the children would be able to learn. Where they could learn to understand themselves. He gave them a chance that he never had.

* * *

 ** _17 years ago_**

 _"How do I look? Professional? Homeless? Chaotic?" Lucian looked over his burgundy and mulberry suit with a sense of fear. "Julia, what if they look at me like child who never irons his clothes?"_

 _Julia looked over Lucian for a second, a small smile on her face. "You look just fine, Professor Halloway." She let out a slight laugh as she straightened his tie. "Besides, I don't think you ever HAVE ironed your clothes."_

 _"Well, no, I haven't. But I had to this time to look good." Lucian tried to suppress the cold feeling that began spreading through his insides. "Wish me luck." Turning away from his old friend, Lucian pushed through the large steel doors._

 _As he walked into the room, he felt eyes immediately lock onto him. The sound of guns being cocked sent a lump down the man's throat. They were waiting. Waiting for a reason. A slight movement, an ounce of venom in his words, anything to just get the chance to rip him apart. "Lucian Halloway, please, sit down." John Frugio, one of the officials Lucian had requested for the meeting, beckoned him to an empty seat at the end of the table. "I understand that you are seeking to build a school for those with the. . . Sense?"_

 _"That is right, yes." Lucian nodded, feeling himself getting colder by the second. "I believe that if I can help these kids to properly understand their Sense and learn how to control it, then the number of Sense related. . . accidents will drop."_

 _The youngest of the men looked at Lucian with a glare of hatred. "How do we know that you aren't just going to make them hate us and lead them to rebel against us? What if you try to kill us with an army of freaks like you?"_

 _Clearly hitting a sore spot, Lucian's smile faded away as he looked at the man with a deadpan face. "Now, there is no need for rude terms such as 'freak'. After all," Lucian held his hand up, to which each gun was immediately trained on him. "If I wanted to kill you, I already would have." With a snap of his fingers, every firearm in the room immediately disintegrated into dust. As the guards attempted to run to subdue him, they found themselves frozen in time. "Now, I am a fairly reasonable man. But when you say that word, and choose to insult me and all who are like me," The officials at the table cowered slightly in fear of what he had done, and internalized the terrifying thought of what he could do. "I can't help but get a little angry. You see, if anything, you all are the freaks. Those with the Sense are the ones with a mutation that causes me to be able to do this." Holding his arm out, he slowly balled his hand into a fist. The men, especially Frugio, looked horrified as one of the frozen guards became distorted. Bones could be heard shattering into multiple pieces, and muscles ripped like elastic. However, as Lucian unraveled his fist, the guard went back to his uninjured state._

 _"Halloway, if this is how you plan to win us over, then you are sorely mistaken." It was the young man again, Isaac Bellone._

 _Lucian laughed at his statement. "You're right. But you see, I'm not here to win you over. No, actually, I'm here to terrify you." He jumped up on the table, kicking aside documents as he came to Bellone's seat, crouching to be face level with the man. "Tell me, if I told you that I would remove each of you from this plane of existence if you didn't let me build this school, would you give me permission?"_

 _"It's not like you would ever do that. You're making up whatever you want in hopes that it'll make us just get you out of here." Samuel Thiero, the second youngest member in the room, finally piped up. Lucian smoothly turned around to the olive skinned man. With a smile on his face, he quickly grabbed hold of Samuel's face. Starting from the head, and slowly edging it's way down, Samuel slowly began to disappear, until finally, he was gone. Gone from the room, gone from this life, gone from his very existence._

 _"As you can see, I can follow through on my word." Lucian turned back around with a widening maniacal smile. "I believe we got off on the wrong foot, gentlemen. You see, I am not normally like this. Of course, I would never be like this around children. Just pompous pricks that wave their dicks around because they think there is power in it." He waved his hand around the room to show just who he was speaking about. "In fact, I am quite good with children. It's why I want to run this school. If it was up to dumbasses like you, you'd have all of those children killed, imprisoned, institutionalized, the list goes on. None of you would ever want to put yourself in the thought process of someone with a Sense."_

 _The oldest of the members in the room, Joshua Wimuk, began to nervously sink in his chair as Lucian walked in front of him on the table. "And what thought process is that, exactly?"_

 _"Oh boy, am I glad you asked!" Lucian bent down to squeeze Joshua's cheeks before jolting back up. "As someone who has made it through the Sense's worst years, I can tell you exactly! I see that if you have an environment where you aren't worried of what the people around you will say if you have some disturbing power, you will begin to grow instead of just internalizing all of the negative feelings building up inside. In normal schools, someone with a Sense is going to suffer academically, socially, and mentally. They will be called a freak," He shot a glare towards Isaac. "They will be cast out of all friend groups, which will can lead to them suffering in their grades, and in their own health. In my school, however, they would all be surrounded by people like them. People who have no impulse, people who snap at a pencil dropping, people that have what some people would call superpowers. And when you take out the factor of them suffering from being different from everyone else, you'll see they grow quite well."_

 _John looked to Lucian after picking up a few documents from the ground around him. "And, how exactly would you find anyone with the Sense?"_

 _"Don't worry about that, I will find them. I just need you all to tell me. Are you just going to give me permission for the school, or do I have to 'prove myself' even more?" Lucian jumped off of the table as he turned to face the remaining three men._

 _With shaky hands, the men all signed assorted documents. As they handed the papers to Lucian, time was finally returned to normal around them as the guards were stopped in their tracks with a rather confused look. Just as quickly as time returned to normal, Lucian Halloway had disappeared from the room._

 _As the wind cut through his hair, Lucian could hear Julia laugh from the passenger seat of his car. "So, where are we going, Headmaster Lucian Halloway?"_


	4. Character List

**Hey hey everyone! Wow, time flies, doesn't it? It's already been nearly a month. As you know, that means the time to submit characters is over, unless I have specifically green-lighted you for making a character later than the deadline. So, the list you see before you will update as time goes by, but it shouldn't be long before I have the list full and complete. From this point on, I'm going to have to ask that all of those with characters in the story try to review the story at least every 2-3 chapters. It lets me know if I am doing things wrong or if I am still portraying them correctly. Plus, reviews in general really help me. Motivation is hard to come by, and the reviews always give me that little boost to keep going. Also, for being so patient, I have made a small treat for you all.**

 **Hewitt Hayes (Room 11)- Gifted by lazersword88**

 **Agravain Evermore (Room 7)- Gifted by alucard deathsinger**

 **Hana Ji-Eun (Room 97)- Gifted by JackHammerMan**

 **Setsuna Mikazuki (Basement Level 1)- Gifted by Belladonna Swan**

 **Calico Blanche (Roof Unit X) - Gifted by the-hiraeth-cryptid**

 **Noel Griffin (Room 97)- Gifted by Shin Alter**

 **Hayato Blackwater (Room 11)- Gifted by nerfherder-han**

 **Jack Waterfeld (Room 7)- Gifted by Sync Jack**

 **Amberline River Florres/Tanaka (Roof Unit Z)- Gifted by TamagoAmi**

 **Avianna Allaway (Room 98)- Gifted by Outcast001**

 **Xerathia Muspellien (Basement Level 2)- Gifted by Insanity's Jewel**

* * *

A drop of water. Another. Time seemed to stand still in the darkened confinement. Suddenly, the black mass gave way for the sparks of a lighter bursting to life. Just as quick as the lighter came alive, it's flame died. However, watchful eyes in the darkness could see the burning of a cigarette. With the sound of an inhale, a cloud of smoke was soon expelled.

"Hebino, end the dramatics. We want to be able to see each other." A deep voice, smokey and powerful, managed to rip through the darkness. The darkness ripped away as an overhanging light suddenly turned on. The scene that appeared was reminiscent of many movies. Two people staring down a man tied up in a chair. The taller of the two possessed the deep voice, taking another drag of his cigarette before blowing the smoke into the face of the trapped man. "So, this is going to go two ways. Either you can tell us the location of Halloway's, or you won't even leave this place in a bodybag. Take your pick."

The man looked up at him with a smirk on his face as his ginger hair fell in his eyes. "How many cop shows did you watch to master that line?" A sharp drag from the cigarette. "I'm not telling you shit." As the cloud of smoke entered his lungs this time, the interrogatee found himself short of breath, before feeling as though he was suffocating. He tried to rip his hands from their binds to claw at his throat, but he was incapable of doing so as his vision began to go black.

"Now, Felipe, let's not be too hasty." A seductive voice, smooth as honey and soft as silk. The suffocation stopped as the shorter of the two walked towards the man. He looked at the heavenly woman like the goddess she was as she approached him. Straddling the man, she sat on his lap as she faced him. "My name is Ivasis. What's your's, big boy?" She gave a wink as she crossed both arms behind his head, putting her face oddly close to his.

As he attempted to swallow the dry lump in his throat, he tried to stop any bodily movements that threatened to occur with this woman literally on top of him. "Heath Silver."

With the smile of a succubus, Ivasis caressed Heath's face. "See, you just needed some gentle treatment. Now, do you mind being a doll for us and telling us whatever you know about Lucian Halloway and his school? We know that you were one of the main directors for the project." With a kiss to his nose, she pulled away to stare him in the eyes.

"I. . . I don't know anything about what went on there now. I don't remember where it was. . .I don't remember anything." Heath broke eye contact with Ivasis, looking down as he tried to think of something. This woman made him want to remember.

Ivasis' smile slowly faded from her face as she stood up and walked behind Heath. "You should have just let me kill him earlier." Felipe let out another puff of smoke as he shrugged, turning around. He knew the look on Ivasis' face, and he wasn't looking forward to what was coming next.

As she slowly draped herself over Heath's shoulder from behind, her hand snaked it's way to his crotch. "Some people do need a little gentle treatment, but you, Heath? It seems like you need something more." As her hand found it's way around Heath's favorite bodily attachment, he felt a jolt go through his body. "Now, I don't mean to confuse you. This is still technically being gentle. Allow me to show you what I mean by more." In mere seconds, Ivasis' grip tightened so greatly that Heath felt his crushed genitals be ripped from his body.

"What are you doing, you crazy bitch?!" Blood formed massive crimson lakes in the chair and on the ground as it flowed off. Tears forced their way down Heath's face as his grey eyes met Ivasis' pale pink gaze. The seductive smile she had on her face earlier had become a manic grin that split her face in half. "I really don't remember!" His cries fell on deaf ears as she pulled his face close to hers, locking him in a kiss. Heath struggled for a few moments before becoming subdued. Locking herself even closer to him, she began to manouver her tongue through his mouth, depositing small objects. Finally having explored every crevice of his mouth, she pulled away with a madness-laced giggle.

Turning away, she followed behind Felipe as the two walked away. Heath's screams became louder as he demanded to know what she had done. As light was shut off in the room yet again, his screams were silenced. Seeds placed in his body had grown and riddled his body with titanic thorns as sentient plants began to decompose and rip apart his body for the purpose of nutrition.

As Felipe and Ivasis entered a well lit room filled with technology, they were both greeted with smacks to the head. "Morons." The man who smacked them both managed to tower over Felipe, but he wasn't nearly as muscular, being much more lean. However, where Felipe exuded an aura of physical power, this man possessed something dark and calculating in the place of it. "The hot-headed boar will never find it's meals if it spends it's time staring down every thing that defies it," Felipe bit down on his cigarette before he put it out on an ashtray. The man turned to Ivasis, immune to any seduction she could throw his way. "and the rose will never sprout if it doesn't display some form of patience. You two just lost us our best lead in weeks."

"It's not like he was going to talk, Hebino. Ivasis was just speeding up the shit." Felipe stroked his black beard for a few moments before taking another cigarette from it's carton.

Hebino pushed his glasses up as he turned to glare at Felipe. "You tried to kill him before prying at all. You two are the worst interrogation team. This is why Kamat and Tulori have always been the best, they don't kill our leads after five minutes." Delivering another set of slaps to the back of their heads, Hebino took a seat at the center table as Ivasis and Felipe soon followed. "It's not my problem though. You two will be the ones to answer to Aka for this. My heart is with you then."

"Where is our darling Aka anyways? He never gets held up." Ivasis took a sip from a thick crimson drink. Hebino sat silent for a few moments, the light catching his glasses producing a blinding glint. Shooting his hand out to the side, Felipe couldn't help but shudder as one of Hebino's large snakes slithered towards him, holding it's tail high where it held a glass of what seemed to be a type of punch. Handing it to him, the snake slithered back to whatever dark place it came remembered the time that he had opened his shower to find one sleeping within. His screams were heard through the entire facility that day.

After taking a sip from his drink, Hebino silently set his glass down. "He isn't being held up. No one can hold Aka up. He's having his fun." He shrugged, eyes glossing over his two. . . what did he consider them? Acquaintances? Coworkers? Allies? Morons that he has to put up with for the sake of his boss? That last one sounded about right. "He'll be here eventually."

Suddenly, the door opened to revealed a rather young man compared to the others in the room entered. "What's up, cocksuckers?" Turning his chair backwards, he sat down as he opened a can of whatever strange concoction he had procured. The others never knew what it was, just that no normal person should be able to drink it.

"Ivasis and Felipe here managed to kill our best lead we had, Corvus." Hebino ignored the vulgar name he was called and delivered a summary of his status report he was currently working on in his mind, that way he could avoid annoying Aka more than he was already going to be.

Corvus looked to the others with steel grey eyes. "Let me guess. The bitch was being unreasonable and wouldn't say shit?"

"See?" Felipe gestured to Corvus as he looked at Hebino. "He gets it, why don't you do?"

"Oh no, I get it. It just baffles me that you all know how important finding Halloway's is to Aka, and yet, you still act like impatient children with an all or nothing mentality. They don't tell you immediately, and you kill them. Every. Single. Time." Hebino slammed his fist on the table, causing everyone to grab hold of their drinks.

"Well," Felipe took his cigarette out of his mouth, knocking off the ashes into his drink, causing it to light on fire. As he downed the fiery drink, he put the cigarette back in his mouth. "I don't exactly see you interrogating anyone? You could always do it, why don't you?" His red eyes bore into Hebino's soul. "I think it's because you're scared. You're scared of what Aka would do if you can't get the information. You're scared of being unable to satisfy him for once. Simply put, you're afraid of Aka."

"That's enough!" Hebino shot up in his chair, snakes manifesting through his hands. Constricting Felipe, Hebino slowly dragged him up, tightening the snakes around his neck. Despite his situation, Felipe's cool expression stayed. Grabbing hold of one of the snakes around his neck, Hebino had to destroy the snakes rather than risk immolation. "I could easily do the interrogation next time, if one of you imbeciles can actually run the lab while I do it."

Corvus found great amusement in Felipe and Hebino's arguments. Always so volatile. "Well, if you fuckers are done, how about we all sit down like civilized bitches?"

"You don't want to see them rip each other's throats out for once?" Ivasis lulled from beside him, having slowly moved her chair beside his to where she now leaned against him. She dragged her tongue against her lips, eyes fixed on the standoff before her. "We can just let them keep going for a moment or two."

Corvus pushed Ivasis off of him, crossing his arms. "I can smell dick on you." He was familiar with Ivasis' horrid way of dealing with uncooperative men, and while terrified of it, he was also willing to use it against her. "I think there's been enough bloodshed today if you did _that_." Turning his attention back to Felipe and Hebino, he couldn't help but wonder just what road this argument would take. However, he was surprised by the result.

"I'll hold you to that next time, you dirty snake." Felipe turned and walked out of the room. Corvus stood up following his escape, putting his arm around Hebino's shoulder.

"My good bitch, that could have all been avoided if you just took what he said with a grain of salt. But, I guess you always have to ruin a family outing, don't you?" Corvus patted Hebino's chest with his free hand, only for Hebino to stare him down with his reptilian eyes.

"We aren't a family." Just as Felipe did, Hebino quickly exited the room.

Ivasis stood up, fixing lacy outfit as she stood up. "If we're a family, does that make me your Onee-Chan~" She made a play wink towards him, to which he responded with a roll of his eyes.

"You have fun with your hentai fantasies, Ivasis. I'll stay in reality." Corvus took a final swallow of his drink before tossing it into a nearby trash can. "Hey, you want to go on a walk? I've got time to spare."

Ivasis nodded, gesturing for Corvus to lead the way. "You're not expecting us to like. . . fuck, right?" Amused by the fact that she only got a shrug from Corvus, she decided to catch up beside him.

"Why'd you join Pupa, Ivasis?" Corvus never really made eye contact with her, just looking ahead as they walked towards the door that lead outside of the facility. "I never asked you why before."

Ivasis had to dig inside of her mind for the answer to his question. "If I remember, it was because Aka gave me a good reason. I guess when you take away everything someone loves, that's a good enough reason for them to join you." There was once a time that remembering what brought her to Pupa Potentia would cause her to break into tears. But her time in the facility and her time with the organization had changed her. Made her stronger. She despised Aka originally. Now? Well, she did still despise him and would tear his throat out the second she got the chance, but she had to be thankful. "What about you?" She looked up to the taller boy as he opened the door to outside.

"I joined because I wanted to be a part of something. I know we aren't the best people, but I wanted to make some form of impact. Whether it's for the greater good or not, I don't want to just fade away and be forgotten." Corvus stepped out in the cold night, feeling the crunch of grass under his feet. He looked up to the full moon in the sky, it's enormous beauty filling his view. "Our souls are so fleeting, Ivasis. Compared to the full scale of things, we are nothing. We are blips on a radar. To that moon," He pointed to the lunar body as he looked at Ivasis. "we are all the same. But I want to be different. I don't want to be like everyone else, I want to be me."

Ivasis let his words soak into her. This was so strange to her to see Corvus like this, but as she recalled, Corvus was relatively new. She never really had any time alone with him. "Where's all of your normal cussing?"

Corvus let out a soft chuckle as she shook his head. "That's all just a facade. Something to try and brighten the mood between us all. Look where we are in there, we could use something to cheer us up." He closed his eyes as he let the moon's light cover him for a few moments, before finally opening them again. "Would you like to see it closer?"

"See what closer?" Ivasis stepped back for a second, wondering what Corvus was insinuating. However, as beautiful black wings erupted from Corvus' back, she realized what he meant. "Are you going to drop me?"

"I'll try my best not to." Corvus held his hand out, which Ivasis very reluctantly took. She suddenly found herself lifted off of the ground, held close to Corvus' chest as he ascended quickly. The wind bit into her face, however, she buried her face in his chest to keep herself safe. Coming to a stop, Corvus looked at the massive moon before him, his view not free of any passing clouds. "It's so free up here. No one can knock me down. Up here, it's just me and the moon. And the occasional plane, that's always scary."

Ivasis giggled at his joke before turning to face the moon. He was right. It was so different looking at it above the clouds. It seemed gorgeous, even more than it was before. It seemed to take up the entire night sky now. "Did you do this often before you came here?"

"No. There was so much smog in the sky that I got sick the higher I got. There was one time though," He pulled her closer, feeling his grip slipping slightly. "I managed to break through it all. And it was beautiful. It was clean. For once, I was breathing fresh air."

"And then what happened?" Ivasis noticed a change in Corvus' tone, sparking curiosity within her.

"Then I fell. Like Icarus, I fell to the ground. And when I came to, there he was. Aka. He offered me the freedom I wanted, and told me that I would finally make my mark on the world while with him." Corvus smiled at the thought. "So, of course I took it." With his arms wavering, he very slowly brought Ivasis back to the ground, making sure to keep her safe from falling. "Best get to bed, Ivasis. You've got a retrieval job tomorrow, that'll take a lot out of you."

Ivasis caressed his face as she walked into the facility. "Don't act like you know all about me after just one chat. I'll see you tomorrow, Corvus. I enjoyed our little talk, let's do it again some time." And with that, she was gone before Corvus could realize where she went. Letting out a sigh, Corvus made his way to his room. Opening the door, he noticed that his lights were all off, which was strange considering he always left them on so he could look at the disappointing mess of his room with no intent to ever clean it.

"A bird should always live in fear of it's wings being clipped." Corvus flicked the light switch to reveal a mysterious figure sitting in his chair. Wavy black hair, piercing eyes reminiscent of black pearls. Corvus could recognize the man even with his eyes shut, as his soft lustful voice was unlike any other that he had heard.

"Aka, what are you here for?" Corvus slowly picked items off of the ground and placed them in random places, wanting to seem at least somewhat organized. However, when placing shirts in a drawer full of video games, one does not come off as the most organized person in the world. "I was just out for a walk. If I'd known you were coming, I would have cleaned up some." No, he wouldn't actually.

Aka rubbed his fingers together, feeling the dirt between them from the chair he sat in. "I know you were, however, you seem to have forgotten your place." Corvus suddenly froze. Had he done something wrong? "You are not here to play boyfriend and girlfriend. Be physically intimate all you want, but you are not here to form emotional connections." Standing up, Aka grabbed hold of Corvus' face with blinding speed. "You are one of my puppets, Crow. Just as Ivy is. Puppets are not to form emotions for each other, or else they will have their strings cut. Is that clear?"

"Y-Yes, it is. I wasn't doing anything of that sort though." Corvus held his hands up defensively, palms open to show that he meant no hostility.

"Not consciously, no. However, you still require correction to insure that you do not attempt it in the future." Aka grabbed hold of Corvus' shoulder, forcing his wings to emerge from his back. "Now, submit." Pushing the boy down to his knees, Aka grabbed hold of his wings. With tremendous amounts of force, he began to pull the wings backwards, savoring the sound of bone snapping and muscle ripping. Pulling more and more, blood began to pool from the wounds on Corvus' back, who had begun to give out horrid screams of anguish and pain. This did nothing but urge Aka on further, pulling harder, making sure to rip every muscle, every sinew connected to the wings. The bone was destined to splinter into shards, ensuring that Corvus would remember this meeting. Finally, the last bone broke, severing the wings completely from Corvus' body. Tossing them down beside him, Aka turned around. "You may go to the medical bay in the morning to be healed. Remember the pain tonight, and remember that pain should any unnecessary emotions enter your mind." With that, he was gone. Tears streamed down Corvus' face, wetting the floor as he struggled to see his ripped wings through his watery eyes.

* * *

"What happened to him, Serpent?" Aka gestured to the rapidly decomposing man as he stared down Hebino. "You were in charge, were you not? Why is he dead?"

Hebino scratched at the side of his face as he attempted to find the answers, having to mentally throw away his original report given that Aka did not react the way he had planned. "W-Well, Felipe and Ivasis were really quick to give up on him and killed him. I didn't have time to stop them, sir."

"Didn't have time? You could have stopped them at any time, I thought you had more sense than to let their erratic behaviour continue to the point of killing him." Squatting beside the body, Aka examined the head. "After all, I put you in charge for this process because of your ability to process information. Must I remove you from that position?"

Hebino waved his hands in front of him. "No, you don't need to do that at all! I promise we'll get the information next time!"

Aka went silent for a moment as he leaned close to the body's face. "There doesn't need to be a next time." He slowly began to pry the scalp from the body, ripping skin and flesh alike. After tossing it aside, he dug his nails through the head until he reached bone, quickly breaking through that as well. After breaking the skull open and tossing it aside like a used bowl, he was presented with Heath's untouched brain. "Examine the hippocampus first, then work through the rest of the brain. If something doesn't come up, your strings will be cut."

Taking his leave, Hebino was left with the body in front of him. The smell of decay only seemed to grow stronger now. "Maybe having my strings cut would be worse than living in this hell." Cupping his hands around the grey organ, he ripped it upwards, disconnecting it from any nerves. "Though, burning in hell would just be as bad as that. To be stuck between a rock and a hard place, what is the way out?" Hebino tried to comprehend who he was speaking to, but at the moment, it was just him and Heath's decomposing body. Sorrowfully shaking his head, Hebino made his way to the lab to begin working. He wasn't going to sleep tonight.

* * *

With another strike to the training dummy, Felipe stopped to wipe his brow free of sweat. His muscular frame heaved as he continued to take deep breaths before finally delivering another powerful hit to the dummy, flames coating his arm as he slammed his fist into the ribcage. He was close to the end of his daily training regime, but he knew something was off. He could feel it.

As if the devil had heard his call, he heard that deceptively lustful voice from behind him.

 _"Ember, you have nearly ruined our chances of finding Halloway's for the last time."_

* * *

 **So, how did you all enjoy your view from the "other side"? Now that you all have gotten a taste of what is to come, I am unfortunately going to have to admit that you most likely will not get an actual update with characters until mid-late February. I have to take my ACT on February 20th, and considering the fact that I want to get into medical school one day, that test is very important for me. Until next time, enjoy what you can in your life!**


	5. A Day of Discord

**Am I a month later than when I said I would be updating? Yes. Do I have a specific reason? No. But, in my defense, studying for that test was hell, plus, I got into an accident the day of the test, so that was also something. But I promised myself that I was NOT going to give up on this story, so, I sat down and finally wrote this shit. If it's in poor quality, I really, truly, am so sorry. I wrote this chapter almost exclusively at late times at night.**

* * *

The sun had barely risen above the trees as he stepped out from their thick cover. Burgundy bangs framing his defined face, green eyes scanning the area around him. As he adjusted the bag on his shoulder, he let out a sigh. Halloway's stood proud in front of him, its colourful bricks blending with the stained glass windows.

"It's good to be back." As he began to walk, he heard a sharp whistle behind him. Turning around, an arm extended from his shadow, holding a few red flowers that had been tied together with black thread. Grabbing the flowers and placing them back in his bag, the arm retreated back to his shadow. "Thank you, didn't want to lose those." Closing his bag up after doing a double take of the contents, he began on his way yet again to enter the school.

As he pushed through the school doors, he was immediately greeted by a familiar face. "Welcome back, Yato. It's good to have you back." Lucian gave a solemn wave as he leaned against a nearby wall. Taking a look at his watch, he straightened up. "Come on, let's get you situated before classes start."

"Did I miss anything important while I was gone, Professor?" Hayato kept up with Lucian's oddly quick pace, his shadow being dragged behind him.

Lucian bit the inside of his cheek as he thought, his mind too dull to think. "I really don't remember. Frankly, I'd rather be asleep right now."

A few years ago, that joke would've caused Hayato to feel terrible, but he'd gotten the time to grow accustomed to the headmaster's odd humour. "Wouldn't we both, Professor?" Lucian cracked a slight smile as he stopped at a dark green door, ornate designs etched into the wood. "Is all of my stuff still here?" Hayato was all too familiar with the risk of leaving his stuff around his roommate, but he often managed to get whatever was...misplaced back, so he didn't see any real problem. Lucian shrugged as he unlocked the door, swinging it open.

"Shit, Halloway! A knock would've been nice!" A dark skinned teen rushed to grab something to cover his mostly naked body. "Can't a guy get some privacy while he's trying to get ready? I'm not going to get any ladies looking messy."

Lucian cracked a smile as he turned, getting ready to leave."I don't think you can get any ladies in general, Hewitt." With a small laugh, he was gone around the corner. Hayato let out a deep sigh as he walked into his room.

"Isn't that my shirt?" Hayato looked the shirt up and down as Hewitt fumbled with the buttons.

Hewitt looked down at the shirt before flashing a smile at Hayato. "Yeah, I figured it'd be okay if I used it while you were gone. It's not like you needed it, right?" Picking through the ties of his drawer, he finally settled on a purple bowtie. "You didn't want to stay away as long this time?"

"There's only so much time one can miss out on school." Hayato set his stuff down and began to unpack it, replacing the wilted red flowers above his bed with the new ones he had picked. He made sure to make a mental note of anything that had gone missing from his belongings. "Besides, I missed a few things about this place."

Hewitt gave a slight hum in response as he finished tying the bowtie, grabbing his bowler hat from on top of his wardrobe as he prepared to leave. Taking a look in the mirror, he used a pick to brush through his flat top before donning his hat. "Well, welcome back then, I'll see you around."

Hayato nodded at his departure, turning back to his stuff. He ignored the occasional cackling as a shadowy arm dropped various items on his bed, all things that he recognized as having been taken from his drawers. "You don't have to do that, you know? I can get them back myself."

His shadow manifested into a copy of him, sternly grumbling as it pointed it's finger in a mocking way. "I can get them back myself!" Copying what Hayato had said, the shadow doubled over in laughter as it melted back into the ground.

Taking the time to put away the newfound items, Hayato quickly changed into a more formal attire, setting his baggy clothes aside in a neatly folded pile. His phone buzzed from it's resting place on his bed, a reminder on the small screen.

 _ **I heard you were back, Yato! Come see me so I can make sure you are still healthy! -Camille Linou**_

Hayato laughed at the signed text, remembering all of the times he had told his nurse that she didn't need to sign her texts. Neatly arranging his books in the large bag that had previously held all of his clothes, Hayato prepared to leave to the nurse's office before his first class.

Making his ways down the familiar hallways, Hayato found that only a few students were steadily going to their classes. Of course, there were the students who had already been in their classrooms for an hour despite even the teacher not being there, there were the students like these, which left at a decent time, and then there was the majority of the student body at Halloway's, which woke up five minutes before class and stampeded the hallways like a herd of wildebeest. He always hated getting caught up in that crowd.

Arriving at the white birch door, he looked over the nameplate to be sure it was Camille's office. Walking in, he was immediately enveloped in a hug by an oddly tall woman. Chocolate skin, dark black natural hair that bounced with every step, and a smile that could melt the polar ice-caps. This was Camille, the radiant nurse of Halloway's school. As Hayato set his bag down beside the check-up table, he hoisted himself up on the table. Camille grabbed a few medical tools from around before meeting Hayato at the table. "So, Yato, let's get you feeling alright again." Holding her hands up, they became covered in an ethereal white glow. Hovering her hands over different parts of his body, Hayato felt tensions release and began to feel healthier by the minute.

As she continued to repeat this process, Hayato felt a slight blush come on. Not out of attraction to Camille, but rather, of embarrassment. Camille was often called one of the most beautiful staff members at the school, often ending up on guy's "Would Hit It" lists at the school, or so Hayato heard from bathroom banter. He was frankly disgusted by the thought that there were kids at that school who would have sex with the teachers if given the chance, but considering that's standard even for normal schools, he had to learn to live with it. Camille's cheerful tone snapped him out of his thoughts. "We're all done, Yato. Just a few questions to ask, then you're free to go to class."

"Yes, ma'am. I will try to answer to the best of my ability." Hayato gave one of his signature smiles as he prepared for her questions.

Camille playfully waved him away. "Oh, don't call me that, it makes me feel old." Camille pulled up a chair, clicking a pen as she prepared a clipboard. "First off, have you had any complications with anything?"

The gears turned in Hayato's head as he attempted to understand what she meant, with it finally clicking in his head as she gave him a questioning look. "Oh! No, no! Everything has been fine."

"Fantastic. Second, have you had trouble adjusting to it?" Camille wrote down his answer and prepared for the next.

Hayato adjusted how he was sitting, smoothing out wrinkles on his pants. "No, not really. It's just, it's really big."

"Well, figured you'd enjoy that." Camille gave Hayato a small smack on the arm as she wrote down his response. "Lastly, who's your favorite teacher and, or, staff member?"

Hayato remembered how Camille often filled in for any of the Biology teachers if they were unable to teach, smiling as he got off the table. "Oh, come on. You know I can't answer that, Ms. Linou." Picking up his bag, he walked to the door, turning around as Camille called for him.

"It's good to have you back, Yato. Always good to see that smile around the halls." Camille gave him a smile as he opened the door.

"It's good to be back."

* * *

 _"My dad taught me from a very early age, be at one with the snake. Feel it, son. And I am."_

A TV in the room was lively with the sound of Steve Irwin's wild adventures, contributing to the sound of animals in the room. An orange haired girl cringed as a scaly hand landed on her cheek. Opening her eyes, she found an iguana laying on her, slowly licking her hair. "Ruhe, could you please ask Yoshi to get off of me?"

"I'm sorry, Avie." The blond boy said something to the iguana in a strange combination of hisses and clicks, before looking back at Avianna. "She said that she is comfortable where she is, and that she doesn't want to move." Avianna gave the boy a sigh, which Ruhe took as a hint. "Yeah, I'll get her, don't worry." Picking the large iguana off of the girl, he placed her on the tree branch that extended into the room.

Avianna opened her golden eyes, the sun hitting her fair skin. "Thank you." Tossing her blankets aside like a feather, the tall girl sat up on her bed, causing the floor around her to creak as her feet began to rest on the ground. Standing up only caused them to groan even more, almost as if they were going to splinter despite the fact that she didn't appear rather large or muscular. "What are you doing, Ruhe?" She gave the boy a questioning look as a number of centipedes and tarantulas fed off of assorted pellets and dead crickets on his body.

"You have to have trust in an animal to not bite you as it feeds. I trust them. They trust me. I would give my life for them, and they know that." Ruhe's eyes were the eyes of someone who loved every second of his life. Eyes of wonder. Eyes of love for what he did. Avianna had come to realize the emotions in those eyes in the two years she had been at the school. He was so much of the embodiment of his idol, Avianna would sometimes wake up and think that the Crocodile Hunter had never died.

Giving a smile, Avianna grabbed some running clothes from her drawer and headed for the bathroom, giving a pat to any animals that sat around the large room. Taking a look in the mirror, she noticed that her X-shaped pupils were rather small as compared to normal days. Wondering if it was due to a headache coming on, or just how they looked today, she ignored it nonetheless. As she changed into her running outfit, she multi-tasked to brush her teeth and get her hair brushed down and braided, quickly getting all of her morning duties finished in a timely fashion. Where as her hair previously reached her kneecaps, it brushed her upper thighs in it's braided style. Most people would feel like they had cinder blocks hanging from their head with braids so heavy, but it was nothing more than a grape to her.

"I'm going to go for my jog before classes, Ruhe. I'm late, so I've got to rush." Before she was out the door, she leaned back in the room. "Please, don't let Kiwi get into my crystals again."

The caw of a toucan gave a response to her, which caused Ruhe to laugh. "I'll try to, don't worry. I know how much you love them." After staring down Kiwi for a few moments, Avianna left to head to the gym for her daily morning jog. She was half an hour late, but she was devoted to the routine of doing it every morning.

Finding her way to the extremely large gym, she entered it to find it nearly empty, save for one person. Praega Godfrey, the school's only gym teacher. An absolute beast of a man, standing near ten feet tall, and dressing in flamboyant clothes that would put even the best drag queen to shame. "Morning, Godfrey, sorry for being late, I didn't mean to. I overslept because I was doing so much training last night, I wore myself out and I just knocked out. I'm not going to be late like this all the time, you know that, I just want to get on to the jog." Avianna talked so fast that it seemed almost like her words weren't lining up with her mouth, but the colossal man had grown used to the girl's occasional rapid talking speed.

"Don't sweat it, let's get you all set up, Avie." Praega tossed aside his gigantic pink faux fur coat to the nearby bleachers where it landed with seemingly impossible grace. Avianna took her place at the start of the large track in the middle of the gym as Praega made his way over to her. She never got used to just how gigantic the inside of the gym was, seeming even bigger than the outside allowed. The olive skinned man beside her finally finished stretching his gigantic legs. "Let's see if you can beat your time from yesterday." Snapping his fingers, the large electric scoreboard burst to life with a timer counting down to zero.

Avianna and Praega both readied themselves to begin running. This was Avianna's daily morning routine. Every morning, she came to the gym to go for a slight jog to wake herself up. Praega had taken an interest in any potential she had though, and began to have her race him to try and improve her Sense, and to help her hone the use of it. She may not ever be able to be as fast as some of the people in the school with speed related Senses, but she still had potential. As the timer hit zero, the two began to sprint. Praega had a one up on her at first, however, as Avianna steadily felt herself pouring her Sense into herself and into the area around her, she began to get ahead of the colossus.

Praega couldn't help but smile as he felt himself grow heavier, and his student pass him with ease. Taking a deep breath, he felt every muscle in his body strengthen, and every blood vessel begin to dilate. Overcoming how heavy he felt, he caught up to Avianna. "Nothing is that easy in this world, Avie."

He must've gotten that fast from running away from his problems. Avianna steadily increased the strength of her Sense, her legs pounding against the ground with the strength of an army marching, step by step, bounding around the track. She had yet to even realize that she had passed Praega, who at this point had all but stopped in awe as his student had managed to beat her time of three minutes from the day before, reaching two and a half minutes. A thirty second difference in just one day was amazing, though he knew what this would mean for her. Walking over to the bleachers, he grabbed a few round pellets. Coming to a stop beside him, Avianna punched the man in his arm. "Come on, don't go easy on me next time."

"No, no, you're just that good." Praega gave a smile as he held the round pellets in his hand. "You pushed yourself quite a bit there, take some of these and get on to class. The Enhancer Department made them, they're supposed to refresh your energy." He took a handful of them and swallowed them whole. Avianna figured it was a terrible idea for him to take so many, but considering he was Atlas incarnate, she figured he would be a few, she pocketed most of them. Swallowing two of them, she felt the depleted energy she used come back to her.

Taking her phone out, she mentally cussed herself out as she looked at the time. Quickly running to the locker rooms to change, she shoved her running clothes into her bag and donned her metal-knuckled gloves before leaving for class. However, as she arrived at her classroom, she found it empty. Not one soul was in the classroom. Double checking her phone, she saw that it was already first period, which meant that something had to be off. Removing her right glove, she found that she had completely ignored a note she had written for herself on the back of her hand.

 ** _Mr. Lumen moved to Classroom 46 for the week. Don't Forget!_**

Checking the front of her hand, she found a note there too.

 ** _Writing left handed is hard._**

 _It is pretty hard._ Grabbing her bag up and putting her glove back on, she sprinted across the school as fast as her legs could carry her. Arriving at the classroom, she entered as respectfully as possible. However, she entered into an argument between her teacher and one of the students she despised the most. Flynn Finnigan. If there was a superlative for 'Most Hated', Flynn would easily secure the spot.

"There's no such thing as climate change, Lu...Lu...Loopy Lumen!" The greasy boy struggled to find something to call his teacher, attempting to insult him.

Smacking his hands together, the dark skinned teacher slowly formed a replica of Earth between his hands as he pulled them apart. "You see this, Flynn? You see it?" He pulled his right hand away from the top of the replica, pointing to the area around the Earth. "That's the ozone layer! You know what humans are steadily doing?!" Students at the front and at the back all leaned as close as they could to see what he meant. On the replica, tiny humans pumped oil out of the ground. "That ozone layer is ripping apart, and guess what happens then without the ozone layer helping to filter the heat and radiation from the sun?" Leaving the replica where it was, he smacked his hands together near the replica Earth, forming a replica of the Sun. The room immediately filled with immense amounts of heat. "This little ol' thing is no longer having it's ultraviolet radiation filtered, which means the world is slowly being drowned out by the melting polar icecaps, and our climate is going down the drain as well!"

Flynn was unable to find anything to fight back against the valid points, taking his seat as Lumen got rid of the replicas. Lumen had to hold his tongue as he walked by Flynn to get to his desk. "Avie, you're late."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Lumen. I forgot that the classroom change happened." Avianna took her seat and took out her environmental science notebook.

Writing her in as present, Lumen closed the attendance book. "You didn't miss much. As usual, Flynn believed himself to be better than someone who has an actual degree in this subject."

* * *

The dim fluorescent lights hung low, barely lighting the large room. Wardrobes lined the wall, vanity mirrors scattered about the room. A bed fit for royalty was placed near the hallway that lead to the elevator. Laying perfectly stiff in her bed, Setsuna slowly opened her eyes as the gentle sound of windchimes came from her nearby alarm. Moving almost mechanically, she got up and neatly placed her sheets and blankets back into a uniform fashion.

Walking to the nearest wardrobe, she opened it to reveal a variety of maid-like dresses. Picking an oxblood coloured skirt and top combo, she moved on to the nest wardrobe, gradually making her way around the walls as she pulled a different piece of an outfit from each wardrobe. Finally, she arrived at the last wardrobe, which stood proud beside the bathroom door. Opening it, she was confronted with at least two dozen frilled aprons. They all seemed to be carbon copies of each other, but she still picked through them as she looked for the one she wanted. Picking it from the bunch, she closed the wardrobe and made her way into the bathroom.

Turning on the shower first, as to let the water heat up, she stripped from her light pink sleep dress. Neatly folding the piece of clothing, she set it on top of her light blue slip-ons. Undoing her fishtail braids, she felt her mass of magenta hair caress her curvaceous figure. Pulling back the light pink curtain to the large shower, she stepped in.

"Master Lonely was screaming and crying in his sleep last night." Setsuna thought out loud as she ran the water through her hair. "Perhaps I should go see if he died in his sleep."

Taking the perfect amount of shampoo, she massaged it into her scalp and halfway down her hair, feeling the substance turn to suds and foam as it lathered into her hair. Letting the water wash it away, she finished her routine in the shower and began the lengthy process of getting her thigh length hair dry.

After doing so, she changed into her maid outfit and many accessories that accompanied it. While most of her well-endowed traits were covered up, her bust still showed rather prominently. Tying her apron around her back, she checked herself over in the mirror. Moving her bangs around, she settled on letting them rest over her eyebrows. Stepping back into the main room, she looked to the floor. Envisioning something in her mind, she stomped the heel of her right boot on the ground. In front of her, the ground changed to form a spiral staircase downwards.

Beginning her descent, she found herself in Xerathia's barren room. Running her hand over a python in one of the trees in his room, she walked over to the bed in the middle of the room. "Master Lonely, are you awake?" Taking a glance over the messy bed, she nodded to herself. Putting his sheets back into place, she walked over to the closed bathroom door. She stopped before opening the door, remembering a time she had walked in on the boy undressing, much to his embarrassment, not so much hers. "Master, please put away anything you have hanging loose in there." Opening the door, she was greeted with the same response. Emptiness. No one was in the shower, no one was in the using the bathroom, and he wasn't brushing his, as she remembered from the few times she had braided his hair in his sleep, extremely soft hair.

"Strange. Perhaps Master Can't-Get-A-Girlfriend knows what happened to him." Pulling the ends of her mouth down, she faked a frown. "I hope he did not get murdered and eaten by a cannibal." She left the bathroom after cleaning up any messy aspects of it, leaving the entire room much cleaner than she had found it.

Making her way back to her room, she grabbed her books and prepared to leave. Whereas most would prefer a bag, she found that book bags would wrinkle her dress. She would never stoop so low as to willingly walk around with a wrinkled dress. She just became accustomed to carrying around her books. Boarding the elevator, she pushed the button to go back to ground level.

As she exited the elevator, she was greeted by a number of students who were waiting to get on the elevator to head to higher levels for their classes, wasting time waiting when they could've already been there using the stairs. "Masters and Mistresses, please move aside for Earth's number one maid." While a few moved aside, most still remained where they were, causing her to have to push through them. As she finally made it through the crowd, one boy near the end attempted to grope her body, however, he very quickly regretted his decision.

As he reached for her, Setsuna hoisted her books into only one arm, using the other to grab hold of his arm and jab her thumb into the controlling muscles on the wrist. Steadily pushing harder and pulling his wrist upwards, the boy slowly went to his knees in pain, feeling Setsuna's nails dig into his skin like claws. "You are not even worthy of being near me, Setsuna Mikazuki, a one of a kind diamond." Letting go of his wrist, she took the books back into both arms, heading for the headmaster's office.

Without knocking on the door, Setsuna kicked the door open. "Fuck!" Lucian's vulgar response was quick as he swung around in his chair. Seeing the bubblegum-haired girl, he sighed. "Setsuna, we've talked about this. You need to knock on the door and let me open it for you. I had to replace the hinges on the door the last time you did that." Setsuna set her books on his desk before patting down her frilled skirt.

"Oh, Master Lucian, I apologize, I hate making you do unnecessary things." As she pouted, she took out eye-drops, putting a droplet of water in each eye. She deadpanned as the water steadily made it's way down her face like makeshift tears. "I hope you can forgive me."

Lucian rolled his eyes at the girl. He had grown accustomed to her placid personality in the time she had been there, and even began to find it quite humourous. "What did you need, Setsuna?" Taking a seat and crossing her legs, Setsuna made her makeshift frown.

"Have you heard from Master Xerathia this morning? He was not in his room. He was screaming and crying in his sleep last night." Setsuna tilted her head, causing her magenta hair to tilt with her.

Lucian recalled his brief encounter with the boy the night before. It had been fairly late at night, he couldn't think of where the boy would go. He didn't have any missions scheduled, so that couldn't have been it. "I can't say that I have. Maybe he just went to his classes early?" Lucian shrugged, turning back around his chair. "He's fine, I am sure of it."

Walking in front of him, she perched herself in the windowsill. "You look uglier this morning, Master Lucian. Have you not washed your face yet?"

"Excuse you, I have a five step routine to clean my face every morning and night, thank you very much." Absentmindedly feeling his face with his skin, he began to think of if there were any blemishes on his face. "If anything pops up, it is only temporary."

"As temporary as your relationships?" Setsuna used her left hand to raise her eyebrow in a questioning manner.

Lucian turned back around, pulling out random papers to begin working on. _Damn, she's got me there. I could say so much right now, but I'm better than that. I'm not a kid anymore._ Remembering his glory days in school when he was younger, slinging insults like rocks in fights, Lucian shook his head to clear the thoughts. "You should get to class, Setsuna. I'll make sure Xerathia is alright, don't worry about him." _If you can worry, that is._

Setsuna made a makeshift smile before picking up her books as she prepared to leave. "Thank you, Master Unable-To-Get-A-Girlfriend." Closing the door behind her, she made her way for the stairs. "Master Lonely can hold himself together if something happens. If all else fails, Earth's number one maid will have to come save him." As she found herself at her history class, she entered to find the teacher hitting an operatic high C note as she discussed the great potato famine of Ireland in 1845.

* * *

The lotus pink portal erupted into life in a jungle-like area, Xerathia soon entering from it. Looking around, he was sure that he was in the right place. "Come out, Aka."

"You know, I figured it was only a matter of time before Halloway began to send his pests after me." A fancily dressed man stepped out from behind one of the oddly gigantic trees. Xerathia's eyes caught his, and there was only silence for a few moments. "That teleportation, it does look rather interesting. Part with it, I can put it to better use than you can at that pitiful school. Of course, how about you show me just where it is first?"

Before Xerathia could react, the olive skinned man was behind him. Holding his hand outwards, the assorted jewels that floated around his head grew and assembled themselves into a mangled scythe. Slashing the weapon upwards, Xerathia attempted to portal backwards by a few feet. However, it was no use, as Aka had been there just as quick again. "I could always do with a slight fight, let's see what you've got." Rearing up his arm, the gravity increased around Xerathia suddenly. Before he could block it, Aka's punch made it's mark in Xerathia's stomach, followed by a blur of punches and kicks. Kneeing him in the stomach, Aka grabbed hold of the boy and threw him into a nearby tree.

Coughing up blood, Xerathia steeled himself as he got back on his feet, shortly afterwards floating again. Manifesting the scythe again in his right hand, he held his left hand in front of him. He struggled to keep track of where Aka was, but finally thinking he had gotten a point on where he was, Xerathia let loose a large conic beam of murky green energy. Aka, however, sidestepped out of the way, constantly dodging the beam as if he was dancing. Ducking, flipping, twirling, all of it combined to form an evasive maneuver. _The kid's got more than I thought. . ._ Aka witnessed the destructive power of the beam, anything it touched having been entirely erased. Before he could catch himself from being distracted, he found himself impaled on the blade of the scythe. Xerathia slowly hoisted the weapon upwards before slamming the Aka-decorated blade into the ground. However, where as Xerathia expected the man to begin dying, he simply looked at the scythe with a look of disappointment.

"This is truly the most uncomfortable I have been in a while." Grabbing the blade, Aka pulled it from his chest and tossed it aside, causing the jewels to lose their form. The gaping hole in his chest healed up in mere moments. "Look what you've done, you ruined my suit!" Holding his fingers outwards, strings shot from his fingertips, sewing his suit back together. "You want to get dirty, let's get dirty." With a flick of the wrist, strings extended from his fingers again. Almost like homing missiles, they attempted to find their mark in Xerathia, who portalled desperately in an attempt to get away. Holding his hands outwards, rapiers formed out of the same murky green energy from earlier. Using them to cut the strings coming for him, he changed the shape yet again to that of a bow and arrow. Taking aim, he let the arrow fly towards the man's arm.

Sinking into his arm, Aka looked in boredom as his right arm began to steadily disappear from existence, disintegrating and vanishing from the area of the wound towards the rest of his body. Sighing, he used his left arm to remove the arm. Ripping it away like butter, he let the limb vanish in his remaining hand. "Your little trick is old."

"Is it?" Xerathia's voice came from behind the man, preparing to plunge a dagger made of the destructive energy into his chest. As he sunk the weapon into his chest, he felt something was off.

"It is, yes." As the body vanished, Xerathia was greeted by the smirking face of Aka, still in perfect condition. "Now what I just did? That is a fresh trick." Clamping his hand around Xerathia's neck, he slammed him into the ground, causing the surrounding earth to come up in fractures. Repeating this, Xerathia was helpless as he felt his air supply getting cut off and his back steadily tear open more and more.

Holding him up to the rising sun, Aka clicked his teeth. "So young, so much potential." Shrugging, he tossed him yet again, this time causing the boy to break through two trees, finally stopping at the third. Aka made his way over to the boy, who had gone limp. As he picked him up, letting the light hit his eyes, Xerathia barely opened them as blood dripped from his head, most of his face being stained with the crimson colour. "I thought we were going to have ourselves a little fight? It can't end like that." Dropping him to the ground, Aka held his hands close together as a bright orange ball formed within the space between them. Clapping his hands together over the ball, a gigantic orange beam came out when he opened them yet again, directing the blast towards Xerathia.

As trees disintegrated into ash and the earth steadily was obliterated, Aka ceased the beam. Where Xerathia had previously been, a murky green shield protected his body. As the shield disappeared, Xerathia still remained on the ground, his snow white hair having a slight flicker of a pink glow on it's inside. His arms and legs had terrible burns on them, and the ends of his hair was charred. As Aka approached the next-to-dead boy, Xerathia turned his hand as far as he could, causing a portal to appear underneath him. As his eyes lulled, he began to lose consciousness as he felt himself land on a hard desk.

"Shit! Not again!" The portal dissipated as Lucian turned around in his chair. "Xerathia! What happened to you?!" Dropping the Popsicle stick figure he was making, Lucian traced his hands over the boy's injuries. Picking him up, Lucian began to rush towards Camille's office, desperate for time to not run out. "It's going to be okay, don't worry. Just stay with me. Just stay. . ." As Lucian burst through the pure white door, he had the slight recollection of running a different student to the nurse. His tears then were just as serious as his tears now. _Rose. . ._


End file.
